Vista File Associations

[spacesurfer]

I'm just venting my frustration at Vista's file associations.

For one thing, that tab we were familiar with in Windows XP is not there anymore. It was convenient where it was. Now you have to go to control panel.

Second thing, the control panel replacement for file associations, called "Default Program", is pathetic since you cannot CREATE your own file association. (I know you can do it in regedit). I usually create a file association for ghost files so ghost images open with ghost explorer (BTW ghost explorer works fine with Vista).

So, I created my own file association by adding an entry for *.gho in regedit. Then I used Default Programs to associate Ghost with .gho. But now, I can't change the icon for the file type. It shows the generic file with the program icon in the generic file icon - which is not what I want. I tried to change it in regedit but didn't work.

Seems Microsoft improved a few things but messed up a few things at the same time. You just can't win with Microsoft.

[Mr Snrub]

Why did you edit the registry just to create a new file association?

All you need to do is:

1. double-click on a file of the type you are interested in

2. select the option "Select a program from a list of installed programs"

3a. if the desired program is in the list, simply double-click it

3b. if it is not in the list, then click Browse and locate your program and click OK

So long as you don't clear the box "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" then your association is remembered, and the icon for that file type should be the default one for that executable.

[spacesurfer]

I didn't think of that. Thanks for tip.

One question, though... since I screwed up my icon for that file type, how do I fix it. Editing the registry for the DefaultIcon does not work. It simply will not take the icon that I want. I even tried deleting the key.

[spacesurfer]

Ummm. Nevermind. It just needed a reboot to refresh the icons.

Reboots... still required... go Microsoft.

[Mr Snrub]

The registry is a collection of memory-mapped files which are loaded at boot-time, so manual edits made to parts of the registry may not take effect until it is "reloaded" - that's why public APIs are available to interface to the OS in this way so that affected processes already running can "see" the changes made immediately.

Quite a large amount of the editing of the registry which is done is because there is no UI way to achieve what you want (implementing flags introduced by a hotfix, for example), and the instructions almost always end with "close regedit...restart Windows".

[neo]

Start -> Default Program -> Associate a file type or a protocol with porgram

Here U can change association of program of existing file types.

[prx984]

Seems Microsoft improved a few things but messed up a few things at the same time. You just can't win with Microsoft.

They have made great strides ahead, but many back. For instance, disk defrag. No more graphical layout of the drive, just tells you what it thinks.

[neo]

Seems Microsoft improved a few things but messed up a few things at the same time. You just can't win with Microsoft.

They have made great strides ahead, but many back. For instance, disk defrag. No more graphical layout of the drive, just tells you what it thinks.

I m agree too...!

[WRFan]

this sux indeed. always editing through the registry now. and don't tell me to edit using the new GUI, it changes the wrong keys (writes to userchoice keys instead of major keys like ini->inifile)

[Sonic]

I have a .reg file to set certain filetype with pspad and forr aother applications (foobar2k, mplayerClassic).

This doesn't work because Windows read HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.xxx , so I have deleted the key "UserChoice" of each customized filetypes.

Sure now I must adapt my regfiles to UseChoice, but that works for the moment ...

[hwtan]

I want to associate .gal (I think is the index file of Corel Mega Gallery) to Gallery.exe, but the default program in Vista just does not allow me to do so. I selected the gallery.exe as the default program but nothing happened after that. So, is there a way to edit the registry (using regedit) to achieve that?

[Mr Snrub]

I want to associate .gal (I think is the index file of Corel Mega Gallery) to Gallery.exe, but the default program in Vista just does not allow me to do so. I selected the gallery.exe as the default program but nothing happened after that. So, is there a way to edit the registry (using regedit) to achieve that?

The program itself has to support the passing of parameters on the command line in order to use the simplest type of association.

As an example, Notepad is associated by default with .txt files, so entering "notepad foo.txt" at a command prompt would attempt to open foo.txt, and promt to create it if not found.

To see if gallery.exe accepts command line parameters, open a command prompt and navigate to the folder where it lives (using "cd"), then enter a dummy command line:

gallery foo.gal

If nothing happens at all, does a process start if you just run gallery.exe by itself?

If the program launches but reports no error, then I would guess it doesn't check for any command line options and was written to be interactive only.

If the program reports an error that it cannot find or open foo.gal, then file associations should be working...

[hwtan]

Thanks for your prompt reply. I will try it later. Since it is a 16bit win32s program, the gallery.exe was able to find the .gal by itself and run without problem in win 98. Now I have to drag and drop the .gal file to the gallery.exe in explorer to run. I remember there was an error message when I let the gallery.exe to find the respective .gal. I will get back to you when I try again later this week. By the way, can't I do an association with registry twist if it does not support command line parameters?

[Mr Snrub]

By the way, can't I do an association with registry twist if it does not support command line parameters?

Well poking the registry directly should be a last resort - it's only a database which has APIs specifically to update it in a controlled manner.

If you double-click a .gal file, do you get prompted to select a program with which to open the file?

If nothing at all happens, do you have and "Open with" option if you right-click the file?

[hwtan]

When I double click the .gal file, Windows does prompt me to select a program to open it. However, after clicking the browse button and find the Gallery.exe, after selecting it and double clicking it, nothing happened. It just returns me to the previous dialog box, asking me to select a program again. If I remember correctly, the only way to run it, is by dragging the .gal to gallery.exe in explorer. Strange, isn't it?

Edited June 25, 2009 by hwtan